November 22, 2007
| Thanksgiving Day, 2007 | Deuteronomy 26:1-11 |
PSALM 100
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
That is not the text for the sermon. But it IS the refrain.
The text for this meditation is our First Lesson from Deuteronomy. In this passage we have these instructions: Those who reap the harvest of the Promised Land are called to bring an offering to God. First fruits. God gets first choice, first benefit, first honors.
Bringing this gift is a gesture of thanks. But the thanksgiving in Deuteronomy has a context that larger than the harvest of a single year.
I want to say something about that. It's hard to put in words, in some ways, but I hope you will come to know what I mean.
If you have ever been on a long bicycle trip- I mean many days and hundreds of miles- then you will have some idea of what I mean. I(f you ever ran a marathon you will have some idea of what I mean. If you ever tracked your paddling progress on a boundary waters map, you will know what I mean.
Moving SLOWLY toward a goal or destination is a strange experience for us modern people. But it was familiar to the ancients. When every single mile of a journey is an accomplishment, you get a different idea of what is a "long way."
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God's people have come a long way.
In this Deuteronomy text the people of Israel are called to bring the first of their harvest to give to God. Giving gifts of thanks is an ancient practice, still in use this very day. Giving food is pleasing to God. All offerings today, whether food or money, will directly benefit people in need, people who are hungry, or displaced. Today we offer the fruits of our labors to God.
PSALM 100
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Back to those long, slow journeys. If you ever wrote a book, or a dissertation, you know what I mean. If you ever painted the whole outside of a house by yourself, if you ever re-roofed a barn, you know what I mean.
I am talking about those events that occur slowly, accomplishments that accumulate over time. One page at a time, one step at a time, one nine-minute-mile at a time, one shingle at a time, one day in the life of your child, and another, and another, until that child is an independent adult.
Going a thousand miles in a jet plane does not affect us like walking ten miles. Running 26 1/2 miles is a much bigger deal than driving to St. Louis.
When the journey is a challenge, then each mile is a victory. In the end it will seem that we have come a long way. We have.
The writer of Deuteronomy makes a fascinating connection between worship and a very specific journey. Giving thanks to God is tied very directly here to that ancient journey- a journey that began in the land where Abraham was born, a path that led down into Egypt for food. The sojourn took a terrible turn into slavery, and then moved by miracles on into wilderness, with its freedom and its risk, and then finally to the Promised Land.
In Deuteronomy, the shape of worship is to give a gift, and then to remember just how far we have come.
PSALM 100
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Today we give gifts. We feast. We pray and we sing and we recite one of the Psalms of Israel. As we do these things, the writer of Deuteronomy charges us to stop and remember the journey.
The harder the journey the more each small step is appreciated and celebrated. And this -remembering- during worship is God's gracious act of placing us into the long line of those walking wandering, toiling, sorrowing and rejoicing= all our giving thanks is possible because God in Christ has grafted un into the family tree of those who came out of slavery to be a chosen people. My friends, God has brought you to this day.
Your life happens just one step at a time. You may not feel like you moved very far since yesterday. But at worship God gives us the gift of joining our story to this story. Look how far you've come since the day Abraham heard that call!
This is your story. The journey remembered at the altar IS YOUR JOURNEY. This IS YOUR God, who hears his people in need and leads them, and promises, and provides.
God is here. And the history of blessing, abundance, and forbearance goes a long way back.
God journeys with us, and so it is right to give thanks, to bring gifts, and to remember who we are, and whose we are.
PSALM 100
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.